90 
The Labour Bill in Farming. 
and the inroad thus made upon profits. I will give, however, 
some figures bearing on the same point, supplied to me from 
three farms in the Midland Counties, well-managed mixed farms, 
fair representatives, I believe, of a very large class of holdings. 
No. 3 has not been occupied by the present tenant for so long a 
period as the two others, and, therefore, his figures cover a shorter 
space of time, though they refer, like the rest, to three years of 
farming, and tell the same tale : — 
Cost of Manual 
Labour. 
Year. £ s. d. 
1862 Farm of 340 acres (130 plough, 210 grass) 280 5 0 
No. 1. 1868 Do. „ „ „ 373 6 0 
1874 Do. 388 „ „ 258 „ 419 16 0 
1862 Farm of 210 acres (80 arable, 130 grass).. 223 10 0 
No. 2. «J 1868 Do. „ „ „ 249 19 0 
1874 Do. „ „ „ 272 0 0 
{ 
{ 
= 1 
1869 Farm of 230 acres (120 arable, 110 grass) 268 16 0 
No. 3. <J 1872 Do. „ „ „ 307 14 0 
1874 Do. „ „ „ 344 12 0 
The expenditure for manual labour, set forth here, does not 
include the value of beer ; and every man employed on these 
farms has a quart a day during nine months of the year, and two 
quarts a day during the remaining three months, in the course 
of haying, harvest, and other exceptional work. Nor does the 
foregoing account include tradesmen's bills, such as blacksmith's 
and carpenter's work, which may be put at 7*. an acre. My 
correspondent says : — " Wages have risen here from 30 to 40 per 
cent, (at the lowest estimate 30 per cent.) within a compara- 
tively short period. In 1862 a good able-bodied labourer would 
earn 12s. a week, besides beer and other perquisites, and he 
received these wages wet or dry, whether he could work or not. 
In 1874 we pay 15s., 16s., and 17s., with all the same perquisites ; 
and in many cases a cottage and half a rood of ground rent-free 
into the bargain, worth to rent 2s. 6fZ. to 3s. a week. This, 
however, is not all. Notwithstanding the extra cost of labour, 
we do not get above two-thirds of the work which used to be 
done, and there is a discontented murmuring, which is worse 
than all. Boys fit to drive the plough formerly received 2s. and 
2s. 6(7. a week. This year they will be a scarce article until 
they are old enough, or have learning enough, to leave school 
under the Education Act. A lad, 11 years old, is now getting 
6s. a week ; if 14 or 15 years old, 9s. a week ; if 17 years 
old, 12s." 
Another Midland County farmer says the rise in farm wages 
" may be roughly stated to be at the rate of 30 per cent., without 
any improved standard or quantity of work done, but rather the 
